Disposable
by The Angel of London
Summary: After Hermione was found, petrified, Harry and Ron feel lost. They were so dependent on her that, now, they are helpless. They don't worry about the danger the unknown monster poses on the school as a whole, but rather, how Hermione is. [


**Disposable**

It was the morning after Hermione Granger, their best friend and third component of this unofficial trio, had been petrified, and various Gryffindor second years had noticed how completely and utterly lost the two boys looked, as if they lost part of themselves.

The redhead, Ron Weasley, had even refused to eat since they'd found out – the previous day before noon. It was worrying, as he willingly missed two meals – this breakfast being the third in a row. His elder twin brothers were considering doing _something_ as this was too out of character for him.

"Harry!" a high pitched voice called as it approached the table. The form of an exuberant Colin Creevey, hands around his dear camera, shook the other boy, the raven haired Harry Potter, out of his empty thoughts, and he turned to Colin. "Hermione's alright!"

"WHAT?" He jumped up and ran out of the Great Hall without a look back; somehow knowing Ron was behind him. He pushed the Hospital Wing doors open, ignoring the loud bang, and headed straight for the bed-ridden bushy haired girl. "Hermione! You're alright!"

"Harry!" She exclaimed, but the voice was distorting, "Harry. Harry. Harry." It became deeper, different, and more insistent. "Wake up!"

He fell off the bench as he saw a pair of eyes too close to him, and he was helped up by Neville, who was sat to his left. "Harry, you nodded off there for a second. Are you alright?" Dean asked him from across Neville and next to Ron.

Feeling dizzy and confused, he replied with an unsure affirmative, and ignored the food in front of him as he reached for the goblet in front of him. '_How I wish they served milk here,_' he sighed and he resigned to drinking the sweet pumpkin juice.

He glanced up a second and saw his best friend, Ron, who, strangely enough, looked sick at all the food on the table. In silent agreement, they both stood and left the Great Hall midway through breakfast, ignoring the inquisitive looks shot their way.

'~'~'~'

"Harry," Ron said, "what do we do?"

They were sitting on the stands around the Quidditch pitch, on the highest row, with their backs to the pitch itself and facing the rest of the Hogwarts grounds. "It's a nice view," he offered as a weak attempt to divert the topic.

"Harry," he was reprimanded by the ginger, who sounded so like Hermione it introduced a sad silence.

"I don't know. She did. She was at the library. I bet she did. She- She would know what to do. I don't plan." He let a bit of his panic through as he confessed to his friend his doubts.

"Mate, I- I- You're great. You did a lot and we-"He gave up as he couldn't talk properly and simply watched as Fang followed Hagrid into the Forbidden Forest. "It's getting dark, let's go." He prodded Harry out of his thoughts and they descended the stairs and returned to the castle. They avoided the Great Hall and decided not to eat dinner, opting to go to sleep early. After all, their classes resumed tomorrow, and they didn't have Hermione to help them. They would see how much they underappreciated her in the past year.

'~'~'~'

"Mr Potter, Mr Weasley," their Transfiguration teacher, Professor McGonagall, called, "if you two could stay after class."

They traded a small worried look but otherwise resumed packing up their things at a slower pace than their classmates. They had Potions and it was best to arrive early for _that_ class – especially for Gryffindors.

"How are you coping with Ms Granger's predicament? I hope you are not ignoring your own needs in this time of sorrow." Her knowing look proved she knew they hadn't eaten in a day or more. "She wouldn't want you to-"

"Well you wouldn't know!" Ron burst out, "she can't do anything can she?!"

"Mr Weasley!" She reprimanded, affronted. "She is merely petrified. The mandrakes will be ready soon enough, and they will _all _be restoredto _full health_." She waited for them to calm down, and Harry showed signs of an impending outburst. "I trust you shall keep your temper in check. I believe you have Potions next, and you are aware Professor Snape has less tolerance than I do; especially in regards to tardiness." With a pointed look, she dismissed them and they walked to the dungeons, taking care to use a shortcut to avoid being _too _late.

"Mr Potter, Mr Weasley," a drawling voice startled them as they sat on their table, "20 points from Gryffindor from being late." The Potions Professor raised an eyebrow as he expected the two to come up with some excuse for it – giving him a reason to deduct more points – but they stayed silent.

"Today we shall be brewing the Colour-Changing Potion. Its properties, if brewed correctly," there, he glared at the Gryffindors, "include the changing colour of hair and eyes. A nasty side effect is also that of the skin colour changing. It is not permanent, unfortunately, and lasts for a minimum of 12 hours and a maximum of 16 if done properly. If not, well... You'll have to wait and see."

He waved his wand and the instructions appeared on the board, "you have ninety minutes – more than enough – surprise me with your potions expertise." He said sarcastically as he silently summoned the essays everyone had lain on their desks before. "And each and everyone one of you will test your own potion. No exceptions." And with that, most students dashed to the student cupboard to collect the ingredients needed, while Ron and Harry stayed at their desks, copying down the instructions and taking note of what Snape had said about the potion respectively.

'~'~'~'

"Harry, Harry; remember Hagrid?" Ron suddenly jumped up at the thought. "He was the one who set the monster loose, right? He must know how to stop it, and help Hermione quickly."

Harry, who'd been contemplating the repercussions of these attacks as he stared out the dorm window, fell off the ledge as if he'd been pulled off. "You're right, Ron. You're brilliant!" He exclaimed offhandedly in a rare show of positive emotion. He grabbed the invisibility cloak and threw it over the both of them, taking care to avoid the half empty common room. It was still only dusk and nowhere near curfew, but they didn't want to be asked questions regarding their whereabouts.

They ran as fast as they could to the grounds, slowing down once they reached the uneven earth outside. The sun was still visible by the time they got to Hagrid's hut. "Hagrid! We need to talk to-"They stopped as a crossbow was pointed at them. Hagrid, realising it was only them, tossed it aside and let them in.

"Terrible, innit? 'Bout, 'Ermione." He sympathised, also feeling sad about it.

Ron, however, was still looking at the crossbow with a slight bit of fear. "Why did you have _that_?"

Hagrid, who was making some tea, only muttered half sentences. "Nothin'... Nothin'... I've bin' expectin'... Sit down." The two sat, receiving the large mugs from the half-giant. Before they could ask their question, however, Hagrid started talking of his own accord. "Terrible, terrible. Jus' like in my time. All tha attacks. On'y a girl got killed, she did. Terrible, terrible."

Amidst his reminiscing, Harry heard some important bits. Hagrid spoke as if it were someone else who had perpetrated those attacks, not him. It gave him hope, as the man never seemed to be evil. He had a fondness for dangerous creatures but he wasn't evil.

He glanced outside and saw it'd gotten dark already, he guessed it was already dinner time. "Hagrid, we, err, it's dinner." He hesitated as he saw Hagrid was getting watery eyes, but the aforementioned half-giant simply ushered them out with a warning to not get to dinner too late.

"That was enlightening," Ron remarked as they entered the castle under the cover of the cloak.

"It was." Their stomachs grumbled, but they passed by the doors to the Great Hall. They weren't ready to sit there and eat without Hermione, while everyone chattered like everything was all alright, because it wasn't.

* * *

**This is, if you will, a spin on the whole Hermione's-petrified predicament. They are going to be more sad [angsty, maybe?] about Hermione and less Gryffindor-ish [A.I. Less brash and less reckless about the Basilisk thing]. It will, eventually, become more AU as it goes along. **

**...**

The snowball challenge:_Hermione was petrified and Harry got closer to a Gryffindor, igniting a row between him and Ron, who believed he was attempting to replace Hermione._

**An entry for the above challenge by ... someone. I'll edit this when I find the name of the person.**

**I was going to have it a two-shot, but I couldn't find how I'd make it work. This will probably be a multi-chapter spanning around 7, possibly 9 or 10 chapters. I can't say with confidence as I'm not sure how long they'll be. **

**I haven't really gotten Hagrid's accent right, but I tried my best.**

_**Words: **__1373_

_**Posted: **__22__nd__ February 2013_


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